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After lunch, I sat on the couch with Leto, Daddy Aisling, Levi, and Willow for two hours watching the Soul Animal Babysitters Squad animation.
37
Aurora
“Welcome home,” Aiden said, placing his phone on the center table and getting up from the couch to help me pull off my coat when I walked into the apartment.
I couldn’t speak, so I nodded as I trudged, rather than walked, toward the coffeemaker in the kitchen.While I liked to take matcha tea, coffee was my go-to drink for decompressing.Today, I was so exhausted that I knew I needed iced coffee to feel better.
“Sit at the counter.I’ll make it for you.”Aiden said, staring at me with his brows knit together in concern.
“Thanks.”I croaked out as I sat on a stool in front of the counter and pressed the side of my face to the cold countertop while watching him make me an iced coffee.
After spending a week in Ni Daonni City, I returned to Crawford Town to finish my exchange student program.I didn’t go back to the Davis’ home.Instead, my mates and I got a bigger apartment closer to the center of Crawford Town so that we could live together.
“How was it?”Aiden asked with his back to me.
I had attended several of Nyra’s court hearings in the past few weeks since I returned to Crawford Town, and today was the day the judges and jury gave their final verdict and Nyra’s sentence.
I sat up and sighed, placing my elbow on the counter and my chin on the back of my hands.“Bad.I mean, it wasn’t as bad as it could be.But it’s not as good as we’d hoped.”
“How many years?”Aiden asked.
I sighed again.“Thirteen with intensive psychiatric treatment and rehabilitation.”
Aiden turned around and placed the iced coffee in front of me before moving to sit on the stool beside me with his long legs bent my way so that our legs were pressed together.
“How did she take it?”He asked, grabbing my free hand and squeezing it.
“She just ...sort of deflated because we were hoping for a maximum of ten years,” I said, recalling how Nyra’s head lowered and her slouch became heavier.
“Can we appeal?”Aiden asked.
“Her attorney says it’s not advisable given that the ruling was decided by a judge and two hundred jury members,” I replied before taking a sip of my iced coffee.
We fell into a comfortable silence and I drank my coffee, unable to stop myself from thinking of the forced smile Nyra had given me before she got into the van that took her away from the court.
* * *
A week later, I was lying on my bed staring up at the ceiling when the door to my room was pushed open.
From his footsteps in the living room and the fact that he, Caden, Mateo, and Levi were the only ones who had a key card to this apartment, I knew Aiden was the one who entered the house.But I hadn’t expected him to enter my room because he and the others had been careful with me, treating me like a priceless porcelain bowl that was about to shatter since I returned from Ni Daonni City the day Nyra was sent to the Women’s Correctional Facility in Mount Dreke.
When Aiden pushed my door open, I sat up, ready to tell him I was okay again.But instead of standing at the door and asking if I was feeling better, he strode into my room, dressed to go out while looking down at me for a few seconds.
“Do you need something?Is something wrong?”I asked, puzzled by his gaze.
“Everything is wrong.You’re not smiling, you’re moping around and you’re staying locked up in your room all day long except for when you go for your classes.I can’t keep watching you like this, so I’ll take you somewhere to cheer you up.”
Once I realized that there was nothing wrong, I fell back onto my bed.“I don’t want to go anywhere.”
He moved closer to me and stood over me, staring at me for a few seconds before asking, “Do you love her?”
“What?Who?”I asked.
“Nyra.”
“No ...Yes ...I mean, she’s my friend and I love her, I guess.I mean, we’re true mates and all, but ...we’re still not sure what we’re going to do about the bond ...”I tried to hide the cringe I felt at the defensiveness in my voice because I still didn’t know how to tell the rest of my mates that Nyra and I were thinking about pursuing our true mate bond after she was released from prison.
